Just saw the really quite odd but lovely low-budget film Strange Factories, which I helped Kickstart. Quickest and laziest way to describe it would be 'Gaimanesque' - it's an allegorical tale of the nature of Story and Creation, heavy on the Mythic. Bit long, very cheaply made... but it looks amazing, the cast are splendid and it really lingers. Would make a perfect double-bill with A Field In England (not only 'cos it's in black and white).

Now available to d/load at the site or the usual places... but if you're in England and able to make one of the cinema showings, it should be quite an event, as the team have worked heavily in multimedia ritualised events. Wish I'd got to see it that way.

Even with the scientific inaccuracies, Gravity worked as a survival drama charting the emotional changes put on Sandra Bullock's character. Bad 3D glasses didn't stop me from being enthralled from beginning to end. I guess I'm grateful I didn't see the spinning helplessly in space sequence in 3D.

A must-see documentary worth catching is Let The Fire Burn. It tells the story of the events leading up to Philadelphia police's 1985 bombing of black power organization MOVE's headquarters. The film uses just found footage (news broadcasts, a video deposition, a MOVE training film) as its sole documentary material. Though there's no narration or filmmaker judgment on the events, I couldn't help feeling the cops wanted to kill all the MOVE members it could. The trailer is here.

1) It is indeed a lot of fun. Thor and Loki both steal the show, as they should, though some of the side characters have really great moments. (Some of my US movie-fan friends will be cheering at one bit in particular.)The final bits are genuinely hilarious and imaginative without letting go of the gravitas too much. It does drag a bit in the middle, which could use some firmer snips of the ol' director's scissors, but it's definitely no slouch.It's actually paced a lot like a comic book arc, for better and worse. Mostly for the better. Somewhat predictable in places, but enjoyably so, if that makes sense.

2) While there are a couple of very cool 3D bits, and it's mostly well done, the 3D is more distracting than it is a boon. And yes, it still makes the movie darker all over, and blurrier in places. Watch in 2D, and enjoy the (really gorgeous) visuals without getting distracted or having to fiddle with 3D glasses.

3) There is an extra scene after the VERY END of the credits, and it's worth watching. Don't walk out of the theatre until those fancy words have stopped rolling over the screen.

Maniac: If seeing a crazed hobbit cut scalps off women to place on manikins entertains you, then this is your film. I dunno!The Conjuring: For this sort-of flick, not too bad. Some creepy moments.The Purge: I managed to sit through it, and found it fairly watchable. Quite entertaining siege-stuff which kicked-off a debate about whether you should be able to protect you home with lethal force. We talk some crap where I live.Dark Skies: An X-File, really; without the F.B.I.Thor: Not the new one. I didn't hate it.Batman Year One: Best of the bunch! Marvelous!

I think I've said this before, but the Lego Movie is by Phil Lord & Chris Miller, who did the absolutely fantastic Clone High, the first Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and directed 21 Jump Street, all of which are great. Also, Will Arnett is Batman.

You're Next is way more interesting in terms of the whole "home invasion" thing. I didn't really learn any lessons from it though. Aside, of course, from "don't mess with Aussie women because they will fuck you up bad."

As far as The Purge, I wish they'd better explored/explained the whole "all crime is legal." Like, I don't want to hunt poor black people. Instead, I want to take out an insurance policy on the store I work and burn it to the ground, wrapping "Fuck you, I'm rich and I quit" into a neat little one nighter since insurance fraud, being a crime, is legal at that point.

Very much late to the party, but finally saw Pacific Rim. I would characterize that as "a fun romp". A friend contrasted it with Elysium as an example of shit scifi film vs. very good scifi film, and yeah, can't really disagree more. It's kind of bad if your smart scifi film seems to make less sense on the whole than a flick about giant robots kicking the asses of giant monsters :P

Pacific Rim is a really dumb movie that's perfectly aware of it dumbness and revels in it. The result brought out the nine-year-old in me in the best way. My brain hasn't gone "THIS IS SO COOL OMG OMG OMG" that much since the first Matrix movie.